depends what kind of carping you wana do mate! you could do feeder fishing, float, surface , on the bottom
i do more on the bottom, simple hair rig which you can buy! running weight, thats your end tackle, obviously use boilies, pellets etc read up on best baits or the lakes your going to be visiting visit them and ask around.
id get 2 rods, a pod, alarms, you can pick them up cheap! and over time build up your gear! or just use one rod on the bottom and float on one! that way you always busy and a new comer to the sport will always want to be doing something!?
also using the float